Wednesday, 25 January 2012

The next UK Smalltalk User Group meeting is on this coming Monday, 30th January at 6.30pm at it’s usual location The Counting House. This is the first of the talks that we selected at the Christmas meeting. And for some reason I got chosen to go first:

Anatomy of an IDE

Using a few example IDEs we are going to look at what makes an IDE valuable.
Building software is a complex business, software that works and stays in production for years. It is a craft that involves engineering, insight and skill. The tools that we use to build that software are vital enablers to our success.
Between 1997-2004 the dominance of Java and the main vendors’ tools strategies led to something of a stagnation for IDEs. But since then with the return to language diversity and the broadening of platforms there has been a real opportunity to experiment with what an IDE is and means and to look at how it could evolve.
We will look at a range of IDEs including WebVelocity, Cloud9 and Codea and contrast them with more traditional IDEs such as VisualWorks, IntelliJ’s IDEA and Eclipse.
This evening will be more in the format of an overview of the issues and opportunities and then a discussion as I am sure that many of you have a far deeper understanding of many of these IDEs than I do.

Newcomers are most welcome, whatever your experience or interest in Smalltalk. Indeed if you are merely interested in this evening's topic we would welcome the company.